i. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to buttress material for a surgical instrument, and to buttress material configured to be releasably attached to an end-effector assembly of a surgical instrument.
ii. Description of the Related Art
A surgical instrument, such as a surgical stapler, for example, can be configured to deploy staples into tissue during a surgical procedure. In various embodiments, the surgical stapler can include an end-effector configured to be positioned on a distal end of the surgical stapler. The end-effector can be configured to be positioned within, and slid at least partially through, a cannula, or trocar, positioned in a wall of a patient's body such that a surgeon can utilize the end-effector to perform work within a surgical site. In various embodiments, the end-effector can comprise a first jaw member including a staple cartridge and, additionally, a second jaw member including an anvil. The first and second jaw members can be configured to be moved proximally towards each other to clamp layers of tissue therebetween and apply a compressive force thereto. In at least one embodiment, the staple cartridge can be configured to removably store staples therein and the anvil can be configured to deform the staples as they are deployed from the staple cartridge.
In some circumstances, the layers of tissue can be relatively thin, can have a high fluid content, and/or can have a non-uniform thickness, which can cause the staples to be improperly formed within the tissue. To ameliorate this problem, a piece of buttress material can be utilized to support the tissue as the tissue is being clamped and stapled. In at least one embodiment, a piece of buttress material can be releasably attached to at least one of the first and second jaw members before they are inserted into a surgical site. In various embodiments, the piece of buttress material can be utilized to distribute the compressive force applied by the anvil over the surface area of the buttress material in order to create a more uniform tissue compression profile within the tissue. In at least one embodiment, a uniform tissue compression profile can increase the likelihood that that the staples will be properly formed in the tissue.
In various embodiments, a piece of buttress material can be difficult for a surgeon to attach to the jaw members of an end-effector. In at least one embodiment, the piece of buttress material can be attached to one of the jaw members using an adhesive configured to releasably retain the piece of buttress material thereto. In such an embodiment, a surgeon must carefully align the piece of buttress material with the jaw member owing to the possibility that the adhesive may immediately bond the buttress material to the jaw member. In such circumstances, the piece of buttress material may have to be removed from the jaw member and replaced a new piece of buttress material. As a result, the surgeon can spend valuable time positioning and aligning a piece of buttress material on a jaw member of an end-effector. What is needed is an improvement over the foregoing.